To Make a Prairie
An ethereal setting of Emily Dickinson’s timeless meditation on creation
Music: Elizabeth Alexander
Words: Emily Dickinson
An introspective setting of Emily Dickinson’s timeless poem about creation. With ethereal vocal lines and a dreamlike piano part, To Make a Prairie invites the listener into a place of mystery and quiet awe.
“Determination. Mindfulness. Fortitude. Strength. Resilience. These ideas and more come to the surface when Elizabeth Alexander’s stirring music and Emily Dickinson’s inspirational text are paired together… The poem is only five lines long but can be profoundly impactful. Alexander’s musical setting is equally influential, creating an ethereal dream-like state through chromaticism and legato lines…” Reprinted from the ChoralNet blog, “One from the Folder,” Dr. Shelbie Wahl-Fouts, Associate Professor, Hollins University
Details and Ordering Information
Composer Notes
Emily Dickinson’s deceptively simple poem holds up three essential ingredients of creation: clover, bee, and revery. The clover is the raw material, the bee is its faithful courier, and the revery is…um…what exactly?
Revery is a luscious, old-fashioned word suggesting dreaming, imagination, and wonder. But when I first encountered this poem, I mistook it for an archaic form of “reverence,” which felt surprisingly apt. Meanwhile, my husband read the word as “revelry” – and I had to admit that celebration is pretty crucial, too!
Revery, reverence, or revelry? However it lands for you, Dickinson reminds us that creation is not about the mechanics. It springs from a mysterious, ineffable spark we can only imagine.
To Make a Prairie
To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee —
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.
Emily Dickinson
Performers
Premiere: Women-in-Music Chorale / Christine Strohl (Columbus, OH)
Anima Singers / Emily Ellsworth (Glen Ellyn, IL)
Carolyn Slenska, Betsy Yarrison and Mimi Stevens (Alexandria, VA)
Celestia, of The Concord Singers / Michael Sanflippo (Summit, NJ)
Fine Arts Chorale of Kansas City / Terri Teal (Kansas City and Prairie Village, MO)
Good Company! / Steven Hoifeldt (Ames, IA)
Rutgers University Queen’s Chorale / Steven A. Russell (New Brunswick, NJ)
